Car Of The Day: January 20, 2012

Today's car of the day is Konami's 1978 Toyota Starlet.

The Toyota Starlet is a small automobile manufactured by Toyota from 1973 to 1999, replacing the Publica, but retaining the Publica's "P" code and generation numbering. The Starlet was marketed as the Publica in some Toyota export markets.

For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Toyota Starlet

This is one of the most prized cars in my entire collection.  Yes, this tiny little Japanese economy hatchback is special- this is what my Mom had when I was growing up.  Hers was a silver '81 (had a facelift) and it really was a great car.  I never in a million years expected anyone to do a Starlet in 1/64, so when I saw Konami was doing one it became an obsession to obtain one.  There are two colors but I only have this one (the green one is high on my want list, however!).  My hope is that eventually Tomica will get around to doing a Limited Vintage Neo of the '81 in silver, but I'm not holding my breath.  It doesn't hurt its prospects that due to being rear wheel drive it has been a fairly popular drift car over the years and that this is pretty much the definitve generation of the Starlet (not to mention the only generation to be sold in the USA).

The 60 series, introduced in 1978 was better known, being the first to be extensively sold outside Japan. It was offered with 993 (KP60 2K), 1,166 (KP62 3K) and 1,290 cc (KP61 4K) engines. Three- and five-door hatchbacks were offered in export markets, although a distinctive 5-door wagon variant was sold in Japan, Hong Kong and Germany. Trim levels were Standard, De Luxe (also known as DX in some markets), GL, XL, S, and SE.

In 1980 the Starlet was facelifted to include square headlights and a second facelift followed in 1983 to incorporate a slant nose front end, and lower hatch opening.

The KP61 was the only Starlet ever sold in the USA from 1981 to 1984, and the Toyota Corolla FX replaced it in 1985. The 1981–1982 models came with standard 5-speed manual transmission and tachometer. It is an equivalent to other markets' S model. The 1983–1984 models were additionally offered with Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) with the 4K engine, but with 4-speed manual transmission, and similar to other markets' XLi model.